Woven structural material



1961 s. M. POMEROY 3,005,524

WOVEN STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed Jan. 25, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. SAWYER M 30 BY POMEROY FIG. 3

ATTYS Oct. 24, 1961 s. M. POMEROY WOVEN STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed Jan. 25, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

SAWYER M. POMEROY ATTYS.

Oct. 24, 1961 s. M. POMEROY 3,005,524

WOVEN STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed Jan. 25, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet s IN V EN TOR. SAWYER M. POMEROY 3 BY f; V4 7 @W m ATTYS.

Oct. 24, 1961 s. M. POMEROY 3,005,524

WOVEN STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Filed Jan. 25, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .51 ,7 V R\\\\\\\\ R R 1% L E FIG. :4 FIG '5 L\\\ \\\\i K 3 FIG. I? FIG 8 g IN V EN T 0R.

SAWYER M .POMEROY FIG VII

ATT YS.

United States Patent 3,005,524 WOVEN STRUCTURAL MATERIAL Sawyer M. Pomeroy, Lyndhurst, Ohio, assignor to The W. S. Tyler Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Jan. 25, 1954, Ser. No. 405,836 1 Claim. (Cl. 189-82) This invention relates, as indicated, to a woven structural material. It is particularly directed to a structurally rigid material having a fine architectural appearance with apertures which may be capable of light and air transmission, while the material is at the same time structurally rigid and capable of reflecting light in an interesting, attractive manner.

This invention is particularly directed to a structural woven material formed from metallic sections having reentrant portions, such as channels, vees (Vs), angles, tees (Ts), multiple tees (Ts), zees (Zs) and the like, which are too numerous to mention. These metallic sections would normally be in one direction, such as the longitudinal strands, and the cross strands might well be of some other material, such as bar stock, round, square, or other shapes, and possibly hollow under some conditions. The combination of a metallic section having a re-entrant portion which is woven in sharp bends around a crossed metallic section produces a woven structural material in which the strands have a non-uniform cross section along the length of the strands.

In some ways it will be seen that this material could be deformed so that interesting angles and curved surfaces are defined which produce unusual contrasts, and if, for example, a channel member is used, woven with a fiat back side towards the viewer, this produces a saddle or saddle back in the bent position because of the stretching of the fiat surfaced metal in the channel. Equally unusual efiects and structurally rigid materials are produced when Vs, Ts, double Ts, angles, Zs, and other shapes are used.

It may be that multiple strands will be woven together having deformed sections and these may be actually rectangular in their original state and they will be woven over a bent portion of a cross strand so that a re-entrant portion is formed in the material at the bend, causing a slightly arcuate portion. There would be, of course, nonuniform sections along the length of the strands, but this extruding of the metal, as it may be called, produces a bulge adjacent another strand and provides for spacing and fine appearance, giving a textured appearance which reflects light in an interesting and unusual manner. These materials, of course, may be used in a great many varieties of patterns and in all cases they produce a very unusual and attractive appearance, as decorative ceilings, possibly for walls, partitions, balconies, railings and other uses today. They maybe made out of light metals, such as aluminum and magnesium, though, of course, others could be used.

An object of this invention is to produce a new and useful woven structural'material having a textured surface with light reflecting areas.

A further object of this invention is to combine a light structural material of metallic section having a re-entrant portion so that the material is characterized by a nonuniform cross section along the length of material, because of local deformation of the metallic section.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention then consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim, the following description setting forth in detail one of the approved means of carrying out the invention, such disclosed means, however, constituting but one of the "ice 2 various meansin which the principles of this invention may be used.

In the drawings;

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front plan view of th structural material;

FIG. 2 is an axial cross-sectional view along the lines 2-2 of FIG I;'

IG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view along the lines 3-3'of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front plan view of an alternate modification; 7

FIG. 5 is an axial cross-sectional view along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 4; a

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 4; V

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary front plan view of a further modification;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along the lines 8-8 woven .Of FIG. 7-;

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal view of FIG. 7 along the lines 9-9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a transverse cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 along the lines 10-10 of FIG.;7;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view, longitudinally, of a further modification;

FIG. 12 is a view along the lines 12-12 of FIG 11;

FIG. 13 is a view along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a view of an alternate modification before being incorporated into the weaving;

FIG. 15 is a view along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 16 is a view along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 11';

FIG. 17 is a view of another modification before being incorporated into the weaving;

FIG. 18 is a view along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 19 is a view along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 20 is a view of still another modification before being incorporated into the weaving;

FIG. 21 is a view along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 11, and

FIG. 22 is a view along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 11.

This invention consists of a series of species embodying woven structural materials having re-entran-t portions which are not uniform along the length of the metallic sections. One particular species of this invention will be described in detail and this is described in connection with FIGS. 1-3. Here a channel section is used to illustrate the invention. 10 shows the channel sections generally, wherein other channel sections may be shown. at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. Transverse to these are the cross strands at 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. These may be seen particularly in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, which are cross-sectional views, perpendicular to one another, of the woven structural material. This material is composed of channel shaped members which are considerably wider than they are deep, that is to say, the web is not as deep as the width of the channel. This cross section of the material may be seen in FIG. 3 wherein the width of the channel'll is seen extended from the right hand side at 22 to the left hand side at 23. The depth of channel may be seen here. It extends down to point 24, which is known as the web, and on the other side to the point '25. In order to make this product the distance 23 to 24, or in the other alternative 22 to 25, must be considerably less than the distance 22 to 23. In the unformed stage the channel is absolutely perpendicular and the inside portions of the channel are filleted slightly and are narrower at the outer extremity in the vicinity of 24 than they are near the base of' the channel at 23, i.e., the web tapers and thickens as the back of the channel 'is approached. i

To explain how one of these channel sections is formed and what happens in the forming operation to change the appearance of the produ t, the following description r is necessary, though it will be seen that this description invention is not to be limited by the manner in which the product is made. a a

n "The product as preferably formed would be made in the standard weaving machine for wire and as it is bent "in a series of forming dies, which are on alternate sides of the woven structural materiaL'the channels would be "subject to the following forces, and would be distorted in themanner about to be described. Referring again to FIGB, pressure would be placed upon the die at 26, which is also shown in FIG. 2, in such a manner that the channel would be forced upward and this will cause the channel flanges to extrude outwardly to form an extru- 'sion 'or distortion which is seen at 27 on the left and ,28 to the right. This is caused by the web of the channel being forced outward under pressure of the die forming. machine on the channel to force the channel upward at the same time this happens. The back of the channel or the fiat portion of the channel is formed in a'saddle back as is seen in FIGS. fl, '2 and 3, 22 being the top portion of the saddle, '29 being the bottom of the saddle, and 23 again being the other extremity of the saddle.

a This will take place, as a mechanical engineer will understand, because the neutral axis of a channel is considerably inwardly of the outer edge and possibly in the portion between the webs. Accordingly, the material will tend to stretch and in stretching will form .a saddle between the extremities of the flange which are being held against the die forming machine. Thistsaddle will have side effects almost to "the next portion where the channel 'is bent and in this way produces asurface which has jno plane surface. By this we mean that any .two points on the'sur'face may notfhave a straight line drawn through them which will .pass through all points in the surface "since this will be a continuous curve and it will reflect light in an interesting-manner, having appeal architecturally because of the textured appearance of the surface. Of course, it will also-be seen that this 'local deformation produces a warped surface'which, has 'less tendency "to distort or deform under subsequent stress. This .sur-

face then will have a saddle back and will have a series of saddle backs running up and down the material. It will be distorted on the edges which will strengthen it in 'such a way that when again subject to stresses, [it will resist these stresses because the material has been strengthened to a certain extent. It goes without saying that the weaving process is done .in the .cold state, as .hot .ex-

'trusi'on or hot forming would not produce these same effects. After the. channel is formed in weaving as by bending, as is shown in FIG. 2 in the part of the vfigure relating to the saddle at 29, a die from the opposite .side will touch the back or flat portion of the channel and force the channel downward in such a manner that the web of the channel stretches as is shown .at 30. This die would be positioned against the fiat surface of ,the channel at '31. After completing these operations, the transverse metallic sections would be positioned in and .among th'ellongitudinal metallic sections. Naturallmonly fone metallic section has been described and the operations will be opposite on the adjacent metallic section or, in fact,- the weaving can .have a different pattern and be made according to many other processes, but the .formation of the materials will beapproximatelythesame and the stresses and strains on 'the metallic -'sectionswould be the same. a

This Produces, then, -a distorted iiange "or web which "covers "to a limited'extent the adjacent metallic section "or channel in'em'ber and reduces the light passing there through. However, because a portion of this distorted flange contacts another portion of the next distorted flange intermediate the transverse metallic section there may be a limited amount of light transmission there- 5 through. When the channel is stretched, as is shown at 30 in FIG; 2, there is no distortion except the stretching and the channel does not either bend outwardly or inwardly to any great extent.

To show the extent of this distortion a sample view ought to be taken of FIGS. 2 and 3 looking at their intersection as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This may be properly describedas 29 since it is the bottom of the saddle, and from this point the material is stretched as t vehave seen, and the edge of the channel nearest the web is seen at 22 and at 23. This can be seen in cross section in FIG. 3 It can be seen also in FIG. 2. The material stretches as is further seen in FIG. 2 down to a point almost adjacent the next metallic section; The

other extremity will be known as .33 and these will be 29 placed on the drawing of FIG. 1 at about their approximate position. In all of this area extending from '32 to 33 and from 22 to 23 there will be no truly plane surface. By this l mean a fiat surface. All of the material will be stretched in the form of a saddle and will pro- 25 three unusual lighting effects as well as providing strength to the material because of the deforming operation. This same effect can be seen from the distortion in the web or flange of The channel. FIG, 1 shows this particular distortion at 24 and 25, where it is forced outward by the forming process. Here "the channel and its web extend over the transverse metallic section and it practically overlaps the adjacent longitudinal metallic section to a certain extent. 'Thisiianged surface then is less 'd-istorted as "it approaches the 'adjacenttransverse meta'b lic sections and, as willjbe seen at 35, it appears to be 'no 'longer extending over the normal edge of the channel. There "is a similar position on the other side of the chan nel at about 36. The combination of distortions produce interesting architectural effects which are stronger and more resistant to bending effects. a

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that a new product comprising a channel shaped member .having distortions from the plane of the surface and extrusions at the point where the transverse metallic sections cross the iongitudinal metallic sections in such a way that a saddle effect occurs on the back surface of the longitudinal metallic sections resulting from these local deformations which produce a warped surface that is resistant to further distortion. This strengthens the material and provides considerably increased rigidity.

"be applied to angles, 'Zs, Ts, and other structures "hav- "ing as components a horizontal surface and .a vertical surface, or many combinations of these items embodying double Ts, triple Ts, and, in fact, any metallic section having a re-entrant portion. The effects indicated herein may vary somewhat withthe section beingformed or woven, but 'inany eventalmost all of the characteristics "Will be apparent and 'a non uniform cross section will occur in the product and this willfbe from said metallic section which in the original instance 'before Weaving 55 was a uniform cross section.

Another -species of'this inventionis shown in connection with FIGS. "4,5 and 6. Elena plurality or amultiplicity of strands arbitrarily designated serially 37 through 51 and cross strands designated serially 52 through 55 have been formed showing that a number of the strands upwards oftwo or 'three are woven together to former group off-metallic sections and have the following characteristics. These strands have re-entrant porfirms and are made from channels, but could -be from other re-entrant sections, and they form in such a way that a portion of the channel extrudes sidewardly providing a spacing between the members which produces unusual effects, greater strength, and other characteristics desirable in textured surfaces having architectural appeal and rigidity. It will be seen that the greater the number of strands in the section the greater will be the proportion of the openings to the total area. These figures show clearly that as the metallic sections are woven they extrude outwardly, as is shown in FIG. 6 at 56 and 57, which are respectively the side channel portions or webs of channel members 42 and 43. This provides a space between the channel members seen at 58 which provides an area through which light or air may pass, if such is desirable, but in addition to this produces a textured surface having a series or plurality of longitudinal gaps between the woven members. This extrusion of the channel, as is shown at 56 and 57, will take place when the channel is being bent over the top of the crossed metallic sections, but will not occur when the channel is being stretched, that is, the web of the channel is being stretched, since there is not the same tendency in the metal forming operation to force outward and, rather in this case, the web of the channel would thin slightly there would not be the extrusion outwardly to provide the spacing. However, the extruded portions at 56 and 57 will reoccur at the next portion of the cycle following the first cycle after it has been bent in the same direc tion again and this may be seen at 59 and 60 respectively the second strand away.

In the longitudinal cross section the metal flow will be seen very clearly and this stretched portion of the channel 50 is seen in FIG. below the crossed metallic section 53, said stretched portion being designated at 61.

Going to the next strand, this will be seen above crossed metallic section 52 and here metallic section 50 is shown with its saddle back indicated at 62, having the edges shown at 63. The extruded portion projects away from the view and this contacts the cross metallic section at 64. This construction is then one in which the longitudinal metallic sections are not uniform along the length of the sections and provide for continuous distortion which is then resistant to further bends or forces in the material.

Additional description could be given, but much of it repeats that given in connection with FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and will be apparent to those who understand woven structural materials and particularly those woven with textured surfaces.

FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and are additional views of a further species of said invention, in which the original longitudinal strands shown at 65 generally will be rectangular in cross section in their original state before weaving, but because of the movement of metal and the bending upward and then downward over the cross strands designated generally at 66, there will be a flow of metal forming a re-entrant portion, which is shown generally at 67. This produces a non-linear cross section having a reentrant portion and this re-entrant portion is formed by a stretching of the metal on the outside of the bend and a movement of the metal adjacent the cross strand 66, which is outwardly in the form of an extrusion leaving a shallow portion which re-enters into the metallic section. Longitudinally of the material along the lines 9-9 of FIG. 7 the material will appear in many respects similar to a normal weave and the distortion of the metal in the metallic section will not be so exaggerated in this view.

Intermediate the cross sectional views along the lines 88 of FIG. 7, there is seen a similar view which could be taken along the strand 66 which will be a slightly different cross sectional view from that seen in FIG. 10, in that the material will have no re-entrant portion or, if any, then only to a very slight extent depending upon whether the strand is woven tight or loose and whether the cross section is elongated rectangularly or, in fact, other shapes, as well as the other characteristics of the material.

Other possible modifications and strands having reentrant portions or surfaces are possible, and in FIGS. 11 through 22 are illustrated Ts and double Ts and triangular strands having re-entrant portions. FIG. 11 shows a cross sectional view through a strand shaped in a triangle. FIG. 12 is a view along the lines 12-12 of FIG. 11 showing the strand as distorted by bending over a cross strand. FIG. 13 is the approximate undistorted view along the lines 13-13 of FIG. 11. It will be seen in FIG. 12 that the lower leg designated 71 will have been expanded and widened as shown at 74. The other legs, designated 14 and 15 respectively, as seen in FIG. 13, will be flattened out as seen at 16 and 17. The lower leg 13 contacts the cross strands as seen at 18.

In FIG. 11 there is seen a longitudinal cross sectional view of a triangular shaped strand. This strand, designated generally at 70, has a lower leg portion 71 and two upper leg portions 72 and 73. In the distortion of weaving the lower leg portion 71 becomes widened as seen at 74, and the upper leg portions become flatter as seen at 75 and 76 respectively. Said lower leg portion contacts the cross strand as seen at 77. When the leg 74 is stretched in the opposite direction it will flatten hardly at all; in fact, it will stretch and appear in its approximate original dimension.

Other views of re-entrant sections are seen in FIGS. 14 through 22. FIGS. 14 and 15 are the corresponding views to 12 and 13 of a double T section. Detailed description could be made of the manner in which the legs and flanges form and stretch to form this re-entrant section, but from the foregoing description it will be clear that much of the same action occurs as was seen in the foregoing.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are similar views of a double T section in which the section flattens out forming a saddle back as seen at 78, and in which the flanges are forced upward as seen at 79 by the distortion in bending. The single T section of FIGS. 18 and 19 is similar to the double T in some respects of FIGS. 14 and 15, and a single leg projecting downwardly as seen at 79 will expand. All of these sections produce greatly strengthened material because they are distorted out of the plane in which originally located and produce not only interesting architectural surfaces, which give an appearance of texture, but have reentrant portions which facilitate this movement of metal in the cold state.

I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein set forth in the preferred means of carrying out my invention, as it is apparent that many changes and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A woven structural material formed of longitudinal and cross strands in which the longitudinal strands are channel-shaped, said channel having a back and a web extending from each edge of the back in the same direction, said channel-shaped strands being bent alternately under stress over and under the cross strands and having at the one bend the channel back in tension and the webs in compression, forming in each channel a saddle back at its outer back face and extruded web sections forced outwardly from its sides, and having stretched web portions at the opposite adjacent bend with each web thinning in tension as it is bent in the opposite direction from the extruded section.

Hart June 3, 1902 Reynolds June 24, 1930 

